It is not uncommon for sporting equipment balls to have special training features for improving a player's performance and accuracy. For example, in many sports, it is important that a user be able to throw or kick a ball so as to properly align it with a hole, a hoop, a net, or other target for purposes of scoring in a game. Training to properly kick or throw a ball is particularly important for younger players, such as teenagers and adolescents, as these age groups are still developing their playing skills.
In many sports, including basketball, accuracy of a thrown ball or “shot” is affected by the ball's rotation. The rotation of a ball can generally be segregated into two components: speed of rotation and alignment of the ball. The speed of rotation is how fast the ball is revolving about an axis, while alignment relates to the degree to which the angle of that axis remains constant relative to the direction of the flight of the ball toward the target. To some extent, these components are related, as a faster rotational speed helps to maintain a ball's alignment.
Visual and tactile features on a ball can aid a user in obtaining the proper alignment when throwing a ball. Thus, these features can be useful training tools, even if they may not be permitted in an official game. Basketball players have been particularly interested in improving their accuracy with a basketball, as the game of basketball requires a player to throw or “shoot” the ball through a hoop not much larger than the ball itself to score. Some types of basketballs have employed markings in the shape of a hand to teach proper placement of the player's hand on the ball for shooting a basket. One example of this type of basketball is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,876 to Williams. This type of hand placement marking, however, does not help a player to judge either the rotational speed of the ball when thrown, or the accuracy of the ball's alignment during flight. Further, it does not tactilely assist a user in positioning his or her hands to throw the ball.
Still other basketballs provide a single circumferential line on a ball. This type of line may be used to assist a player in aligning the ball with an intended line of travel to a target. While this type of line can inform a player of the ball's rotational alignment, the use of only a single line to provide this information does not assist a player in visually discerning the separate physical components of rotational speed and alignment of a shot in order to effectively recommend improvement to a player.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have a game ball that assists a player in both detecting alignment of the ball during flight and detecting the rotational speed of the ball during flight in such a way that both alignment and rotational speed can be separately evaluated and adjusted to improve a player's shooting performance. Moreover, it would be useful to have a game ball that provides a user with guidance as to hand placement when throwing the ball. Still further, it would be beneficial to have a game ball that makes these training features available to younger players, who are still developing their skills and thus will obtain the most benefit from these training features.